Monkey Brains
"Monkey Brains" is the 7th episode of Season 1 in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. It premiered on November 3rd, 2012. "The story of a man trapped in another body meeting a girl with a missing father, whom both have a supernatural gift." '' Official Description Donatello and April investigate a scientist disappearance, but instead discover a conspiracy regarding a bizarre psychic monkey instead. Plot In the Dojo, Donnie and Mikey duel while using a technique known as Seoe Nage. Donnie begins to criticize Mikey when the latter improvises by defending himself with a single back flip. Donnie comments that this is not the defense that he should be using, but Mikey isn't flustered by this and stays content with his move, believing that this is where he gets his energy. Donnie then goes up to Master Splinter and asks him what he would do if he was attacked with Seoe Nage. Unexpectedly, Splinter replies that he doesn't know and tells his son that he will need to learn to fight without thinking and to be in the moment. Later, Donnie is seen perfecting one of his elaborate 'master plans', which happens to be creating a flow chart to help in getting April to hang out with him. The other turtles seem to view this as another thing they can make jokes about. Donnie tells them that he must plan an appropriate reply for anything that April says, in order to maximize his chances of success. April then enters the room and opens up her laptop, showing all four of the Turtles a news story that involves the disappearance of a neurologist named Dr. Tyler Rockwell. She settles on heading over to Rockwell's lab in order find out more about the situation, as this man's disappearance could very well be connected to her father's abduction. Donnie readily joins her, eager for a chance to spend some time alone with her. After the two leave, Leo flips over the Flow chart and notices that this is one of the circumstances that Donnie had thought of, much to Leo's surprise... After Donnie electronically picks the lock on the door that leads into Rockwell's lab, he and April discover that the place is very cluttered and they also notice a cage that looks as if it was damaged by a very powerful creature. Donnie then realizes that a vial of Mutagen has been hidden in the false bottom of a desk drawer. Just then, a man comes up behind Donnie with a golf club and prepares to strike at him, but April warns Donnie of this and the latter easily pins the man. April then turns on a nearby light and it is revealed that the man is one of the neurologist's colleagues: Dr. Victor Falco. Falco sits down with them and tells them that Rockwell was given a significant amount of money by The Kraang, who wanted Rockwell to experiment with their Mutagen on a test monkey. Unfortunately, however, Falco doesn't have a clue if April's dad is involved in any way. April then tells Donnie that the monkey in that cage could've easily broken out of captivity and harmed Rockwell...or even worse. Leaving the lab, April wonders how they're going to find Rockwell without any leads, only for Donnie to reveal that he swiped a flash-drive off of Rockwell's desk. The duo then run into the monkey itself, which was mutated into a humanoid state. Donnie starts to attack the monkey right away, but is soundly defeated, as the monkey seems to be able to sense all of Donnie's intentions. It's not long before Donnie seems to be knocked out cold. The monkey then approaches April menacingly. However, the creature notices that April is not fearful of him at all and pauses. April then looks into it's eyes and tries to assure it that everything will go back to normal. The monkey seems to calm down a little bit, but it then backs up and takes to the roofs. April manages to safely get Donnie back to the lair, where Raph, Leo, and Mikey all gang up on Donnie and tease him about getting defeated by a monkey in front of his "girlfriend". Later, after Donnie has gotten time to recover, he is depressed over the fact that he got battered by something that has inferior intelligence compared to him. Once again, however, Splinter tries to explain what the importance is of fighting without thinking and he demonstrates with Mikey. Mikey is able to deflect several of Splinter's attacks without even paying attention (he is listening to music with headphones and closing his eyes). Later, April analyzes Dr. Rockwell's research data and learns that he was trying to modify the Mutagen. He believed that it was possible to give a normal human being psychic abilities. Raph believes that this syrum could have been used on the monkey, as the monkey appeared to be reading Donnie's emotions during their fight and only became hostile when Donnie was hostile. Leo then recommends that they should team up and track this monkey down and, to help stay in touch with one another, Donnie unveils his most recent invention; the T-Phone. The Turtles, along with April, pursue the monkey all over the city, but eventually lose it at an intersection. April suddenly comes to the realization that it is concealing itself in a nearby trash dumpster and, sure enough, she finds the monkey cowering inside. She gently allows it to climb out of the dumpster, just in time for Mikey to lasso it with the end of his Kusurigama chain. The monkey then begins to growl frantically. April looks into the Mutant's eyes, however, and manages to realize that the monkey is actually a mutant version of Dr. Tyler Rockwell. They take Rockwell back to his lab, where Falco sedates him. He assures the Turtles that he will try to see if he can give Rockwell a semblance of a normal life. Back at the lair, Splinter asks April how she knew that the monkey was once a human. April replies that she may sometimes get "feelings" about things. Splinter then exits, interested by her answer. Donnie, still not satisfied with the mutant Rockwell's capture, looks over Rockwell's research notes and finds that Rockwell never seemed to have kept a monkey in his lab, but the closest thing to a monkey that he had were samples of an ape's DNA. Rockwell is what broke free of the cage after being mutated and mercilessly locked in there by Falco, who has been lying the whole time they've known him. The Turtles immediately rush back to the lab, only to find Falco sedating Rockwell, extracting a mutagenic fluid from the mutant's mind, and injecting it into his own neck, which allows him to gain psychic abilities. He can read the Turtles' minds with ease and is now able to see their attacks coming his way the moment when they think of making them. Falco arrogantly says "No man can defeat you when you know his every thought". First, Raph attacks, but Falco proves to be his better and knocks him senseless with his own Sais. Leo and Mikey are the next two to fall, which leaves Donnie to face Falco alone. Donnie attempts several blows with his staff, but Falco simply seizes the staff in his own hands and throws Donnie up against a wall. However, Donnie then convinces himself to fight without thinking and the turtle inhales and exhales, before charging into battle. Donnie is able to remember the advice that Splinter gave him and fight Falco effectively, as the latter is not able to detect the spaces that are between Donnie's thoughts. Donnie pummels the scientist so many times that Falco is utterly stripped of his powers and is then kicked into a ventilation duct. The other turtles revive and congratulate Donnie. They then prepare to see what Falco knows about the Kraang, but they soon realize that Falco has already escaped through the duct. They then decide to let Rockwell go free, and the Mutant offers them a silent thanks. He then rushes out into the large city to fend for himself among the angry people. The Turtles and April return home where, in the Dojo, Splinter tells April that her "feelings" are a sign that she possesses an innate spiritual sensitivity and attunement with the universe that he has trained much of his life to attain. In order to develop this ability even more, he offers to train her in the ways of a Kunoichi, a female ninja. He offers her the chance to think about this, warning her that this would tax her physically, mentally, and spiritually. She gladly accepts this, however, jokingly claiming that '''"It couldn't be any worse than high school!" Later, Donnie catches April roaming around the lair. Donnie asks April if she wants to go somewhere with him tomorrow night. April says that she is not able to because she is going to start her training with Splinter. Donnie secretly glances behind the wall at the chart that he made and it is revealed that he was able to create a pertinent reply for this as well!! Donnie suggests that they should train with eachother at some point. April responds that it sounds great, before walking away. Donnie then cheers with joy and happiness. Meanwhile, Raph is busy reading a comic book on the couch in front of Donnie, and Raph rolls his eyes when he hears his brother... Splinter's Wisdom "If you think too much about what is coming, you lose sight of what is. You must be fully in the moment so you can fight without thinking." "You must find the space between your thoughts and learn to live there." Character Debuts *Dr. Tyler Rockwell *Dr. Victor Falco (Soon to be The Rat King) Trivia *Donnie draws his master plan flow chart on the back of a movie poster for "Space Heroes III: The Resurrection of Mindstrong" (a parody of the film poster for Star Trek III: The Search for Spock) *The turtles have April's phone number taped to their refrigerator. *Raphael can be seen reading a "Creatures" comic book about Kappa. Kappa are Japanese water demons that the turtles were mistaken for in the live-action movie "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III". *This is the first episode to focus more on April. *When April and Donatello are out investigating, she is wearing Greg Cipes's line of holster accessories (Wholesters). She is shown wearing them again in 'Panic In The Sewers. *The instrumental hip-hop music Mikey listens to on his headphones is the same piece he listens to with the T-Pod in'' I Think His Name Is Baxter Stockman. *The injuries Donatello gets from his fight with Rockwell are the same as his injuries from fighting the Stockman Pod in I think his name is Baxter Stockman. He gets the same injuries again in 'The Gauntletand Slash and Destroy *The Kraang photo on April's phone is the last time a Kraang-droid is shown in human disguise until [[The Pulverizer|'The Pulverizer]].'' *This is the second episode that is focused on Donnie. *This is an episode when April knows the monkey is Dr. Rockwell. *This is the first episode to example April's gift. *This is the only time Splinter calls one of the Turtles (Mikey) not by their full name. *Donnie reveals the T-Phones *The monkeys eyes go out when he is angry and back in when he is calm. This is a little like what Leatherhead does. *This episode is similar to a Kung Fu Panda legends of awsomeness (which airs new episodes after Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) where Po gets the abilite to read minds and gives him the oppertunity to evade attacks *Mikey can fight without thinking (something his brothers never mastered) but gets extremely frustrated when asked to do it * Splinter says Mikey's nickname for the first time. Gallery Bizzare.jpg Mnj.jpg master plan.jpg|The Master Plan Monkey-Brains.png|Don't worry doc, this will only hurt ... a lot HUH.jpg|Thank you. Kitchen zps2fc6600f.png Images (1978).jpg|No brain, no pain Gif don.gif Mikey Shving his face into box of pizza.gif Mikey in a pizza box.png April with flashlight.jpg Good move Donnie.jpg Category:Episodes Category:Season 1 Category:The Show Category:Episodes that aired in 2012